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During a meeting last week, a NY-based rabbinic colleague shared the following story. She and her wife took their ten-year old nephew to see the recently released Top Gun movie.  As he had not seen the first Top Gun, my colleague told her nephew a bit about the two main characters in the original, “Maverick” and “Goose,” explaining that they were best friends but that Goose sadly died at the end of movie (sorry if that’s a spoiler, but the film has been out for 34 years).  Sitting between his aunts, the boy innocently, unassumingly, asked one of them: “Were they best friends, like ‘together’ best friends or more like best buddies?”

Shared in the spirit of Pride as an intro to her Dvar Torah, the rabbi shared the heartwarming sense of delight she derived from the experience with her nephew.  The fact that a ten-year old boy demonstrated no implicit bias regarding who constitutes a loving relationship, as well as no difficulty in imagining or easily accepting the possibility that it could be two men, left the rabbi and her wife with a sense of hopefulness, a glimpse into what a truly inclusive and accepting world could look like. 

This beautifully inclusive vision is unquestionably one we aspire to realize at Temple Sinai and for which we will continually work to achieve.  Through intentional listening sessions with parents as well as youth, teen and adult LGBTQ members of our congregation over the summer, we hope to learn and grow our efforts to meaningfully, sensitively, and compassionately serve all the members of our Temple Sinai family with all of your beautiful, varied expressions.  Related, by the end of summer, students and adults alike will see this newly designed logo on numerous office doors and in other select locations to communicate our heartfelt desire to be a community of support.

A prayer in conclusion - (Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells, p. 130, edited)
“M’kor hachayim – Source of life, You have blessed each of us with Your spirit.  In Your wisdom You have made each of us a unique treasure.  Wellspring of our lives, cause us to flow with courage, strength and compassion, to live our stories and our lives openly, proudly, and joyfully.
     Ruach haShalom - Spirit of peace and wholeness, open our eyes to the gifts and blessings we offer and receive from each other; open our hearts to welcome each other fully and truly; open our hearts to embrace, to support, to lift each other with joy, with song, and with deep friendship.  As we celebrate renewal, Pride, and community, let us walk together with strength, compassion, and love.

After Pride Shabbat the Music committee invites you to a (now indoor) Picnic Dinner and Sing-Along. Bring dinner, a guitar, or just your voice and join in playing/singing old and new music, from rock to folk to anything you’d like to offer!  Please register and share song requests here.